Tuesday, November 22, 2016

We received the following update from CollegeNet:
At approximately 11:00 PST 25Live experienced a service interruption. 25Live was up and running at 12:00 PST. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

UPDATE 1:

25Live performance seems to be improving. However, we have not yet received confirmation from CollegeNet that the issue has been resolved.

Original Post:

ITS is aware of severe performance issues currently affecting our 25Live instance.

We have notified Collegenet and are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We will update this post as we receive any additional information.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Information
Technology Services will be performing a point release upgrade to the Banner
administrative systems. This scheduled maintenance will require the
server to be off line on November 20 between 8:00am - 12:00 noon. Access to
Banner and Self-service will be impacted for 4 hour.

Cyber-criminals are stepping up their cyber-scams and phishing campaigns against shoppers looking for the best deals this holiday shopping season, Zscaler researchers said. Check out some of the common spam and phishing attacks targeting Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Thanksgiving.

Researchers have already observed a "sharp increase" in phishing and spam activities against online shoppers, and the number is expected to increase over the next few weeks, Rubin Azad, a security researcher at Zscaler, wrote on the Threat Labz blog. "The motive behind these attempts is to steal sensitive user information which includes personal credentials and financial data," Azad said. The data comes directly from Zscaler Security Cloud, with Web traffic activity for over 12 million users at 5,000 global customers.

Walmart Examples of phishing attacks include this fake page pretending to be from Walmart:

Amazon
This phishing page has been designed to look like a legitimate Amazon.com page and attempts to trick users into entering their credit card information:

There are also a number of fake websites offering special Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. The URLs aren't from legitimate retailers but from unrelated domains such as "busycatholicmoms" and "postyourads." You can see a detailed list on the blog post.

Spam Lines
Zscaler also listed some of the common spam subject lines it has seen targeting online shoppers:

Make the Most of Black Friday, with A New smart-phone

Brand name laptops on sale for BlackFriday

[Black Friday Starts EARLY]Saveup to 90% +FREE BonusItems!

Walmart One Day Specials BlackFriday

Thanksgiving Specials and BlackFriday Discounts!

New Early BlackFriday Door busters are Added EveryDay

Shop Black Friday to find discounts on electronics

Search major Savings on laptops...On black-friday

Limited Time Black Friday Deal

10% off Site-Wide. Get Your Black Friday Shopping Started Today!

All online shoppers should be on the lookout for these and related scams, Azad said. Users should scrutinize the source of emails touting shopping deals to make sure they are coming from legitimate senders. They should also check links before clicking on it to make sure the site is valid. E-mailed invoices are convenient, but cyber-criminals also like using them in social engineering attempts. Users should never be entering sensitive information such as payment information or login credentials on pages which aren't protected with HTTPS connections. And it goes without saying you shouldn't be shopping while on an insecure wireless network.

"We caution consumers to be extra vigilant this holiday season when shopping online," Azad wrote.

Friday, November 18, 2016

It’s Phishing Season: How to Protect Yourself on Black Friday and Beyond

Black Friday is just around the corner—which means the holiday shopping season is about to get into full swing.

But crazy-long lines and fights over the last Star Wars Lego set aren’t the only headaches consumers might face come November 25.

That’s because Black Friday falls within prime cyber crime season, according to a new report from cyber security company Kaspersky Lab. In anticipation of the online-shopping deluge, digital crooks time their phishing emails, malicious links and other online attacks and scams to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and through the rest of the holiday season. By stealing your personal financial info from your computer or smartphone, they then can steal your cash—or even your identity.

Want More?

The report reveals that for the past few years, the number of online attacks during this high sales season has been nine percentage points higher than the average number of attacks that happen during the other months of the year. That same jump is expected during the 2016 pre-holiday sales season as well.

What are the biggest cyber crime threats? Phishing emails are one of the most obvious. These emails are designed to look like they were sent from a legit company, such as your own bank or an online retailer you visit frequently. They’ll ask for your PIN number or other financial info for some made-up reason, such as to confirm a purchase.

Phishing pages are endemic as well, according to the Kaspersky Lab report. These are fake websites that mimic the appearance of a known retailer’s site. When you unknowingly “buy” something and enter your credit card information to check out, your data goes to a crook.

Those innocent-looking links you receive via social media or email that lead you to great deals? That could be a cyber thief at work, too. Click the link and malware is unleashed on your phone or computer that hunts down and steals financial data from your online banking or other accounts.

Making all of this easier for cyber criminals is the fact that so many of us bank and shop via smartphone these days: By the end of 2017, an estimated 60% of all e-commerce is expected to be done from a smartphone, according to the report. Thieves look for ways to break into insecure Wi-Fi networks and poach personal data.

But let’s face it: Online and mobile shopping isn’t going away, so how can you keep your info out of the hands of criminals while still checking things off your gift list? Keep these smart tactics in mind:

Never click on a suspicious link. That goes for whether or not you know the sender. After all, he or she may have been hacked, and the link might unleash malware that steals your data.

Only shop on a retailer’s actual URL. Check the address of wherever you’re doing your shopping to make sure you’re on the website of the actual company—not a similar-looking one created to mimic the site by thieves who hope you won’t notice.

Make sure the site is secure. An easy way to tell is whether the URL starts with “https.”

Switch your phone to cellular dataif you’re shopping on the go. Yes, you might have to eat into some of your data plan, but that’s better than having your financial information stolen because you’re on public Wi-Fi. Even better, install a VPN system on your mobile devices, which encrypts your data.

Use complex, unique passwords for each online retailer. It’s also safer to change them every three to four months. Sure, it’s a pain to keep track of them all, but hey, that’s what password manager tools are for.

Never give a shopping site more info than is needed. If a retailer asks for your social security number or birthday, consider it a warning sign that something’s not right.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

JasperNet users should be aware of a phishing attack circulating campus in the form of a dropbox notification:

Upon clicking the "View File" link, the user is brought to a malicious login page where the username and password entered is harvested and used to gain unauthorized access to the user's account. The malicious login page is as follows:

ITS would like to remind users to be mindful of unsolicited messages and where you are entering your username/password. While many phishing sites like the one above increasingly look legitimate, there are tell-tale signs that the site is not legitimate. More information about phishing attacks and how to avoid them can be found at ITSblog: http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/search/label/phishing

Monday, November 14, 2016

UPDATE: As of 7:20 this morning, the network maintenance has been completed without any problems. We will continue to monitor network traffic throughout the day. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact ITS at x-7973 or its@manhattan.edu

This Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 7:00am to 7:25am, ITS will be conducting scheduled network maintenance.

This network maintenance will affect both wired and wireless networks across the entire campus.

We apologize for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact ITS at x-7973 or its@manhattan.edu

Friday, November 11, 2016

You're probably used to downloading email attachments, but each of those files takes time to download, eats up space on your device, and can get buried deep inside your "Downloads" folder. With updates to Gmail, you can skip that whole process. Instead, you can view attachments and save files directly to Google Drive without ever leaving Gmail, making it easy to access them later from whatever device you’re on—computer, phone or tablet.

The next time you open an email with attachments, you’ll see new previews of the files at the bottom of the email, from photos and videos to spreadsheets and PDFs.
When you click on one of those previews, a full-screen view of the image or document will appear. You can read, search for a particular phrase, and even browse through multiple attachments right in Gmail.

You can now also save your attachments directly to Drive simply by clicking the Drive button that appears when you hover over the preview. Of course, if you prefer to download the attachment to your computer, you can—just click the arrow button.

If you’re one of the more than 120 million active Drive users, you know that saving your files to Drive lets you get to them from any computer, phone or tablet. And if you aren’t taking advantage of Drive just yet, give it a try with your next Gmail attachment.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

#thinkbeforeyouclick - ITS would like to remind the campus community to be vigilant and validate any requests for personal or account information before replying to messages like the one below:

There are a few tell-tale signs that the message above is a phishing attempt to get unauthorized access to your JasperNet account. ITS will NEVER ask for your password or any other personal information via email. Any attempt to do so should be considered an unauthorized attempt to access your account. Also, do not click on links requesting the same. Messages as above can be safely deleted.

If you are unsure of the authenticity of the email or other type of request, please forward the message to its@manhattan.edu or call us at 718-862-7973.

Monday, November 7, 2016

The new Gmail app for iOS

When you get the next Gmail iOS app update, you’ll notice some exciting changes: The biggest overhaul of the app in nearly four years. It's the Gmail you know and love, with a fresh new look, sleeker transitions and some highly-requested features. It's a lot faster, too.

With the new app, getting things done on the go is a lot easier — whether you’re trying to find a message your colleague sent you last month, or trying to get through your work inbox on a Monday morning.

Starting today, you’ll be able to:

Undo Send, just like you do on the desktop, to prevent embarrassing email mistakes

Search faster with instant results and spelling suggestions (like when you type “flighht,” but you really meant “flight”)

Swipe to archive or delete, to quickly clear items out of your inbox

Google Calendar: Updated for you

Based on your feedback (thank you!), the Calendar app on iOS has some shiny, new features:

Month view and week in landscape view, so you have even more ways to see your schedule at a glance.

Spotlight Search support, so you can search for events, Reminders and Goals in Apple’s Spotlight Search and find what you’re looking for faster.

Alternate calendars. If you often look up dates in a non-Gregorian calendar — like Lunar, Islamic, or Hindu — you can now add that calendar to easily see those dates alongside your current calendar.

We'll continue to improve both Gmail and Calendar for iOS so you can be more productive on the go.

Turnitin schedules maintenance windows for the first and third Saturdays of each month from 6am - 11am PST.
All Turnitin services and related websites (Turnitin, OriginalityCheck, GradeMark, PeerMark, Turnitin for Admissions, WriteCheck, and iThenticate) may be unavailable for use during scheduled maintenance times.Stay current with Turnitin's system status, performance, security, and scheduled maintenance updates via the Twitter feed @TurnitinStatus streaming live below.

Additional Information

Instructors are encouraged to set assignment due dates that avoid these scheduled maintenance windows for Turnitin services.

Students are encouraged to submit assignments in advance of assigned due dates.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Today, we’re announcing that on January 1, 2017 we will discontinue support for the Google Drive desktop app on Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003 since these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft. The Google Drive desktop app (officially: "Google Drive for Mac/PC") will continue to function on these platforms, but will not be actively tested and maintained. If you are still on one of these unsupported platforms, we encourage you to move to a newer version of Windows to continue using Google Drive desktop app.

Release track:

Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on January 1, 2017

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

ITS will be performing emergency system maintenance starting at 9:30PM TONIGHT. Between 9:30PM-10:00PM we anticipate that Banner Self-Service and JasperNet SSO (Authentication) will be OFFLINE for 3-5minutes. The system maintenance is the result of a system slowdown encountered during online class registration this AM.

If you would like to request an upgrade of a software already installed in the computer labs or if you would like us to install a new software in the computer labs on campus, please fill out the Software Request form linked to below (click the big green box that says “Request Service”):

Please note that fully completed forms are required for any change to the labs, even for free software. All software installation media and licenses are also required by the due date.

Requests for the Spring 2017 semester should be submitted by 11/11/2016. Requests submitted after the deadline may not be installed in the labs for the Spring 2017 semester. This is because we need time to develop an installation procedure and test the software in the lab environment before deploying the software. We also require a number of weeks to deploy the lab images across campus, which means our solutions need to be complete and tested several weeks prior to classes beginning.

Please submit your Software Request forms ASAP.

ITS closely monitors the Banner Self-Service system during AM registration. This AM between 7:02AM and 7:04AM ITS identified a noticeable slowdown in the system (after the first 485 students successfully registered). During this 2-minute period, users may have experienced slower-than-normal response times from self-service and a possible timeout while waiting for the system to respond. By 7:04AM, 618 students had successfully registered and the system was responding normally.

ITS will be investigating this slowdown today in preparation for the next registration group on Thursday.